Drug deaths in England and Wales reaches highest level since records began
In England and Wales, 5,448 deaths related to drug poisoning were registered in 2023, the equivalent of 93.0 deaths per million people, and higher than the rate recorded in 2022 (84.4 deaths per million, 4,907 deaths); the age-standardised mortality rate for deaths related to drug poisoning has risen every year since 2012.
Of the 5,448 registered drug-poisoning deaths in 2023, 3,618 were identified as drug misuse. This represents 66.4% of drug poisonings. If we exclude deaths where no information was available on the drug or drugs involved (1,245 deaths), then 86.1% of drug-poisoning deaths related to drug misuse.
The rate of deaths relating to drug misuse in 2023 was 61.8 deaths per million people
1,172 people died due to drug misuse in 2023, according to latest statistics published by National Records of Scotland. This is an increase of 121 deaths compared with 2022. This is the second lowest number of drug misuse deaths since 2017, with 2022 seeing the lowest number - The rate of drug poisoning deaths in Scotland was more than double the rates of other UK countries in 2022
The rate was 2.7 times as high as the rates for England and Northern Ireland, and 2.1 times as high as the rate in Wales
This is the most recent year that data is available for across the UK. When comparing Scotland and the rest of the UK, the drug poisoning definition should be used.
https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/news/2024/drug-misuse-deaths-increase